More calls for help to Good Companions Seniors' Centre during truck convoy
The Good Companions Seniors' Centre says there has been an increase in calls in the past 48 hours from seniors in need of meals.
The centre is a non-for-profit organization that provides services to seniors, like delivering meals and groceries.
Monique Doolittle Romas, Executive Director at The Good Companions, says, “We have been providing food hampers throughout the pandemic, currently we are delivering about 15 to 20 hampers (per week) to seniors to make sure they have the food that they require. Over the past 24 hours, we have received seven additional requests for assistance for food.
“I have a feeling for this week and not sure for how much longer, we will continue to get requests,” she says.
Doolittle Romas says the hampers are free of charge and are delivered directly to the seniors.
She says the convoy has caused anxiety amongst some seniors living downtown. “I think they are nervous. It has been loud, lots going on, and they are worried about going to the grocery store.
“Some seniors are unable to get out, they are unable to get to the grocery store, so we want to help them, we want to make sure that we can bring food to them, because that is our primary responsibility to look after our seniors. The Good Companions is located in the heart of Centretown and we want to look after our neighbours,” says Doolittle Romas.
The centre is also planning on delivery groceries to more than thirty seniors this week, including the emergency food hampers.
“My teams say whatever it takes we are going to make this happen. Everyone is working above and beyond to support seniors,” says Doolittle Romas. “I want to reassure seniors that we are there for them, we will find a way to get that food out to them.”
Other community organizations across the city have offered to help. “Other seniors centres other community support agencies have reached out to say, ‘if there is anything that you need, if you need us to reassign staff or want some of our driers or vehicles- count us in!’ everyone is coming together, and I am very grateful.”
Doolittle Romas says if anyone in Ottawa knows of a senior who might need assistance, the centre is there to help.
For more information on the Good Companions Senior Centre, click here.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
It's no secret that spring can be a tumultuous time for Canadian weather, and as an unseasonably mild El Nino winter gives way to summer, there's bound to be a few swings in temperature that seem out of the ordinary. From Ontario to the Atlantic, though, this week is about to feel a little erratic.
What a urologist wants you to know about male infertility
When opposite sex couples are trying and failing to get pregnant, the attention often focuses on the woman. That’s not always the case.
He replaced Mickey Mantle. Now baseball's oldest living major leaguer is turning 100
The oldest living former major leaguer, Art Schallock turns 100 on Thursday and is being celebrated in the Bay Area and beyond as the milestone approaches.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.